As the popularity of the Internet continues to grow, an increasing number of people are accessing the Internet with their mobile devices. These mobile devices include cellular phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), handheld computers, laptop computers, vehicle-based computer systems, and other types of portable or mobile computing systems. Mobile devices may be used to retrieve electronic mail (email) messages, stock quotes, sporting event scores, weather forecasts, and various other information available from numerous web sites and their associated web pages.
Many of these mobile devices are relatively small and contain a relatively small display screen. Therefore, it is important to limit the volume of information provided to the mobile device as compared to a device with a larger display screen. However, today's typical email systems are not optimized for mobile users. Further, these email systems are not easily customized to accommodate the user of a mobile device. As a result, obtaining email messages and other information via the Internet is tedious and time-consuming.
Additionally, many of these mobile devices connect to the Internet through a slow or reduced bandwidth communication link. For example, certain mobile devices connect to the Internet via a wireless network that has a communication bandwidth significantly less than typical broadband connections found in many offices and homes. Thus, it is important to limit the amount of data communicated to a mobile device to avoid long delays in communicating the data to the mobile device.
Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods that allow a user of a mobile device to control the volume and type of data that is communicated to the mobile device.